1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium feeding apparatus which is used in a facsimile to move a recording medium and a recording medium with an image formed thereon on printing means and over an image sensor of the facsimile, respectively, the printing means forming an image on a supplied recording medium in accordance with a received printing signal, and the image sensor reading an image which has been already printed on a recording medium and generating a printing signal which corresponds to the image read from the recording medium, and, more particularly, to a recording medium feeding apparatus used in a facsimile which can print an image, read from a recording medium with an image, on another recording medium supplied to the printing means.
2. Description of the Related Art
A facsimile, comprising an image sensor for reading an image which has been already printed on a recording medium and generating a printing signal corresponding to the image read from the recording medium, and a recording medium feeding apparatus for moving a recording medium with an image on the image sensor, is already disclosed by Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 58-13064. The conventional facsimile is of a transmission only type or a transmission/reception type, and only the image sensor and the recording medium feeding apparatus are disclosed in the drawings of the Patent Disclosure. The recording medium feeding apparatus has a pair of feed rollers, and the image sensor is interposed between the feed rollers. The feed rollers are rotated simultaneously in the same direction to move the recording medium with image on the image sensor.
A facsimile, comprising the above-mentioned image sensor, printing means for printing an image on a supplied recording medium in accordance with a supplied printing signal, and a recording medium feeding apparatus for moving the recording medium and the recording medium with image on the printing means and the image sensor, respectively, and being able to print the image read from the recording medium with an image by the image sensor on another recording medium supplied to the printing means, is already disclosed by Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 60-13545, 61-24865 and Japanese Utility Model Disclosure No. 58-6463.
The recording medium feeding apparatus for the facsimile in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-13545 has one bi-directional driving motor, and a pair of feed rollers corresponding to the printing means and the image sensor. The feed rollers are connected to the output shaft of the driving motor through a pair of one-way clutches which operate to transmit rotational force in opposite directions. Another one-way clutch is connected to the feed roller for the image sensor, a rotational force is transmitted from the output shaft of the driving motor through an idler gear to the another one-way clutch, and the another one-way clutch is operated so as to transmit the rotational force in the same direction as the one-way clutch used for the feed roller corresponding to the printing means.
When the transmission mode is set in the facsimile disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-13545 and constructed as described above, the output shaft of the driving motor is rotated in one direction. The rotational force in this direction is transmitted only to the feed roller for the image sensor but not transmitted to the feed roller for the printing means by the operation of the paired one-way clutches. When either the reception mode or the copy mode is set in the recording medium feeding apparatus, the output shaft of the driving motor is rotated in the other direction, the paired one-way clutches transmit the rotational force in the other direction only to the feed roller for the printing means, but do not transmit it to the feed roller for the image sensor. However, the rotational force in the other direction is also transmitted to the feed roller for the image sensor by the operation of the another one-way clutch.
Since the feed roller for the image sensor is rotated in the same direction as that at the transmission mode setting time when the reception mode is set in this case, if the reception mode is set while a recording medium with an image is placed on a tray for introducing the recording medium with the image to the feed roller for the image sensor, the recording medium with the image on the tray is fed to move on the image sensor by means of the feed roller for the image sensor. The image sensor is not operated at the reception mode setting time, but the above-mentioned feeding of the recording medium with the image at the reception mode setting time loses the operability of the facsimile. The unnecessary rotation of the feed roller for the image sensor at the reception mode setting time causes needless loading of the driving motor and consequent loss in its output.
The recording medium feeding apparatus for the facsimile, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-24865, also has a bi-directional driving motor and a pair of feed rollers corresponding to printing means and an image sensor, and also has a pair of one-way clutches which operate to transmit rotational force in opposite directions to the paired feed rollers. A driving gear on the output shaft of the driving motor is directly connected to the one-way clutch of the feed roller for the image sensor, and the driving gear on the output shaft of the driving motor is indirectly connected to the one-way clutch of the feed roller for the printing means through an idler gear. Another one-way clutch, which operates to transmit a rotational force in the same direction as that of the one-way clutch of the feed roller for the printing means, is further provided at the feed roller for the image sensor, and the another one-way clutch is indirectly connected to the driving gear on the output shaft of the driving motor through the idler gear
The operation of the recording medium feeding apparatus for the facsimile in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-24865 is the same as that of the recording medium feeding apparatus for the facsimile in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-13545. More specifically, at the transmission mode setting time, the output shaft of the driving motor is rotated in one direction, the rotational force in the one direction is transmitted only to the feed roller for the image sensor but not transmitted to the feed roller for the printing means by the operation of the pair of one-way clutches. Either at the reception mode setting time or copy mode setting time in the recording medium feeding apparatus for the facsimile, the output shaft of the driving motor is rotated in the other direction, the paired one-way clutches transmit the rotational force in the another direction only to the feed roller for the printing means, but does not transmit it to the feed roller for the image sensor. However, the rotational force in the other direction is transmitted also to the feed roller for the image sensor by the operation of the another one-way clutch. Therefore, the recording medium feeding apparatus for the facsimile, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-24865, has the same disadvantages as those of the recording medium feeding apparatus for the facsimile, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-13545.
A recording medium feeding apparatus for a facsimile, disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Disclosure No. 58-6463 also has a bi-directional driving motor and a pair of feed rollers corresponding to printing means and an image sensor. However, in this recording medium feeding apparatus, the paired feed rollers are connected to the output shaft of the driving motor only through a pair of one-way clutches which operate to transmit rotational force in opposite directions to the paired feed rollers.
At the transmission mode setting time in the recording medium feeding apparatus, the output of the driving motor is rotated in one direction, the rotational force in the one direction is transmitted only to the feed roller for the image sensor but not transmitted to the feed roller for the printing means by the operation of the paired one-way clutches. At the reception mode setting time in the recording medium feeding apparatus for the facsimile, the output shaft of the driving motor is rotated in another direction, the paired one-way clutches transmit the rotational force in the another direction only to the feed roller for the printing means, but do not transmit it to the feed roller for the image sensor. At the copy mode setting time, the output shaft of the driving motor is alternately rotated in one and another directions for a predetermined time, thereby alternately rotating the feed roller for the image sensor and the feed roller for the printing means for a predetermined time. In other words, the image, partly read in a predetermined amount from the recording medium with the image by rotating the feed roller for the image sensor for a predetermined time, is temporarily stored in a memory device of small capacity, and, then, the feed roller for the printing means is rotated while the rotation of the feed roller for the image sensor is stopped for the same predetermined time as above to reproduce the partly-read image on the another recording medium mounted on the printing means by the feed roller for the printing means. This is alternately repeated to completely reproduce all the image on the recording medium with the image on another recording medium.
In the recording medium feeding apparatus for the facsimile, disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Disclosure No. 58-6463, each of the feeding speed of the recording medium with the image and the another recording medium without image at the copy mode setting time is extremely slower than those at the transmission mode setting time and reception mode setting time. Since the another recording medium is intermittently moved until all the image printed on the recording medium are completely reproduced on the another recording medium, the backlashes of a plurality of gears used in the recording medium feeding apparatus tends to cause the duplicate or discontinuity of a line not presented in the original images to occur in the images completely reproduced on the another recording medium.
In order to reduce the number of rotations of the feed roller for the image sensor and the rotation of the feed roller for the printing means to one, the number being required until all the image printed on the recording medium is completely reproduced on the another recording medium, and to prevent the duplication or discontinuity of a line, a memory device of large capacity must be employed, and the memory device of such large capacity causes the price of the facsimile to increase and the profile size of the facsimile to be enlarged. Since the image reading from the recording medium with the image by the image sensor and the printing of the read-out image on the another recording medium by the printing means cannot be simultaneously executed even when the memory device of such large capacity is employed, the feeding speed of the recording medium with the image and the another recording medium without image at the copy mode time is still slower than those at the transmission and reception mode times.